The Fat Plumber Thread

[Berto]

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – "Yoshi First Look" Trailer


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP5RGz_CRFM

New galaxies.
New friends.
Yoshi joins the adventure.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is only in theaters April 1.

Link: https://ninten.do/6008Spp2s

[Mystic Monkey]

While Nintendo had ninjas, SEGA a had better and scarier organization ... Yakuza!
No, not Yakuza the game franchise, real Yakuza!
Well, it's just a rumour but it's making sense since back then SEGA has many arcade centres all around Japan and the easiest to protect them by getting along with Yakuza.

Based on interview in John Szczepaniak's The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers series, the interviewee - speaking under the catch-all pseudonym Hideo Nanashi, tell this story when he hired a truck-mounted crane to drop an arcade machine in front of the rival company's offices to show he meant business:
"It was one of their game machines. I dropped it in front of their offices, smashed it. And I told them that one of their employees would be next. To show them that I was serious. That way they would feel ashamed of their actions, you know? It was easy for me to get a [REDACTED] arcade cabinet cheaply, so I bought one from a distributor.
I thought about robbing a [REDACTED] arcade, too, but that's much more difficult, and that would make me a criminal. With what I ended up doing, I could have been charged with something like unlawful dumping of garbage, but that's a minor offence. Whereas if I had robbed a [REDACTED] arcade, I would have been arrested. [REDACTED] was well-versed in using the underworld to get what they want, so if you're going up against them, you have to be smart. They're a big company, so if you try to fight them with ordinary methods, they'll work with the police and get the legal system to come after you. They might even pay off a politician, like a member of the National Diet. Who knows what they're capable of?
I just smashed it in front of their main office in the middle of the night. It was easy. The [REDACTED] headquarters are in [REDACTED] now, but back then they were near [REDACTED] Airport. Their office building was right in front of a major street, in a commercial district without any residential homes."

Also based on the interview, it's not just SEGA who uses Yakuza, other big gaming companies too. In Japan, you have these evil companies that always crop up, and unlike the West, in Japan there's a perception that "play" is bad, the opposite of hard work. So amusement-oriented industries inevitably become infested with evil companies and ties to the underworld. Take arcades, for example. In legal terms, they're covered under laws regarding the entertainment and amusement trades. So they're managed under the same laws that regulate the adult, or "pink", industry. Because of that, the underworld gets involved. The only companies that have been able to do business while staying clean are probably Nintendo and Namco.
 

I have heard of Sega's associations with the real Yakuza. One story I heard is Sega were headhunting a certain employee who wanted to work for Nintendo, so Sega threatened... or kidnapped and theatened that employers family in order for them to choose Sega.

Can't recall how it all ended. I think he ended up with Nintendo and no one got hurt.

[Berto]

I have heard of Sega's associations with the real Yakuza. One story I heard is Sega were headhunting a certain employee who wanted to work for Nintendo, so Sega threatened... or kidnapped and theatened that employers family in order for them to choose Sega.

Can't recall how it all ended. I think he ended up with Nintendo and no one got hurt.

I don't think that one is SEGA's.
Their yakuza is for arcade business, not console business.
While Nintendo was in arcade business (sucessfully too with Donkey Kong), they left arcade business when Famicom (NES) was becoming a success and focus on console games after that.



There really was a kidnapping scandal in Japan but the game company's name was written as [REDACTED] in the news and never known.
Everyone's just assuming that it's SEGA while it's unlikely since unlike the rest of the world, SEGA's rival in Japan wasn't Nintendo.
It's ... Namco, Capcom, Data East, and Konami. SEGA's becoming the king of arcade in Japan by 'defeating, them, not Nintendo.

[Mystic Monkey]

I don't think that one is SEGA's.
Their yakuza is for arcade business, not console business.
While Nintendo was in arcade business (sucessfully too with Donkey Kong), they left arcade business when Famicom (NES) was becoming a success and focus on console games after that.



There really was a kidnapping scandal in Japan but the game company's name was written as [REDACTED] in the news and never known.
Everyone's just assuming that it's SEGA while it's unlikely since unlike the rest of the world, SEGA's rival in Japan wasn't Nintendo.
It's ... Namco, Capcom, Data East, and Konami. SEGA's becoming the king of arcade in Japan by 'defeating, them, not Nintendo.

Oh! So sega were clean of that dirty business?

[Berto]

Oh! So sega were clean of that dirty business?

That one yeah, but still dirty on other. But it's not just SEGA, almost all gaming companies were.
Like the book said, the only companies that have been able to do business while staying clean were Nintendo and Namco.
Those two were known to have the more formidable legal team than others.
Especially Nintendo, who's really aggresive by actively protecting its IP, often issuing takedown requests for fan games and, in some cases, filing lawsuits.
Of course this is after they are focusing in console games business, before that in the early 20th century they weren't that clean due to their involvement in the Hanafuda card business and gambling, as well as potential extortion attempts in the 1960s.

[Mystic Monkey]

That one yeah, but still dirty on other. But it's not just SEGA, almost all gaming companies were.
Like the book said, the only companies that have been able to do business while staying clean were Nintendo and Namco.
Those two were known to have the more formidable legal team than others.
Especially Nintendo, who's really aggresive by actively protecting its IP, often issuing takedown requests for fan games and, in some cases, filing lawsuits.
Of course this is after they are focusing in console games business, before that in the early 20th century they weren't that clean due to their involvement in the Hanafuda card business and gambling, as well as potential extortion attempts in the 1960s.

Problem: People becoming wise to Sega of Japan's association with the yakuza.
Solution: Make game series of Yakuza, depicting them honourable and likeable.

I mean... it worked.

[Berto]

Problem: People becoming wise to Sega of Japan's association with the yakuza.
Solution: Make game series of Yakuza, depicting them honourable and likeable.

I mean... it worked.

Still in the story it's only Kiryu/Ichiban and his friends who are honourable.
Most of the other yakuza characters are as dirty as they are in the real world.